collecting stragglers, with promising prospect of greater and more decided results. At all the brigade camps I found numbers arriving daily. The assumption of authority by the lieutenant-general commanding may have been to some extent irregular, but the exigencies of the case and the concurrent testimony of all kinds which I have been able to gain in relation to the condition of the department in my judgment rendered it expedient.

In connection with this system and for the additional purposes of interrupting travel on the MISSISSIPPI River, and preventing the planting of cotton crops on the river lands and suppressing trade with the enemy, the lieutenant-general commanding has divided the whole western portion of his department into sections of the width of a half a parallel of latitude. To each of these he proposes to assign four squadrons of cavalry and four pieces of rifled artillery. These will be combined into brigades, and these into DIVISIONS; at a central point east will be the headquarters of the DIVISION commander, where will permanently be located the supervising military head of the DIVISION and the military court. Camps in each section will be located a few miles from the river- bank, and roads, by means of impressed slave labor, be opened from these camps to the principal bends of the river, on which will be placed vedettes, with lines of couriers communicating with the respective camps, enabling the commanding officer of each section front of thirty miles to concentrated his force at any desired point in a very short time and communicate the intelligence of the transit of vessels along the stream to the officer commanding above and below him, while in the event of a necessity for a concentration of the cavalry the whole DIVISION may be rapidly drawn into DIVISION headquarters. Colonel Scott, of the First Louisiana Cavalry, has been sent to take charge of the section composed of the county of Wilkinson, in Mississippi, and of WEST Feliciana and East Baton Rouge Parishes, in Louisiana, and is now at Clinton. The lieutenant-general expects the most favorable results from the activity and energy of that officer, and is earnestly endeavoring to supply him with a force which will increase his efficiency. Upon consultation with the general, I have determined to proceed to that section of country and personally examine the practical effectiveness of the plan, and hope upon my return to be able to lay before the department the evidences of satisfactory development. A proper inspection of the cavalry of the department also requires that it should be examined in details, as it is impossible, without detriment to the service, to concentrate it. General Forrest is returning from Tennessee, and I shall proceed so soon as he arrives on the railroad to examine and inspect his force. I inclose exhibit furnished by Lieutenant- General Polk, more clearly elucidating the progress made in suppressing outrages,* with report of operations from General Forrest. # I will in my final report forward a map of the States of MISSISSIPPI and Louisiana, showing the sub-DIVISION into districts. It will require some weeks to inspect the western portion of the department, owing to the unsettled condition of the country. I have, therefore, in anticipation of the delays and difficulties which will characterize it, thought it proper that the information already derived should be forwarded at once to the department.

I have the honor to be, general, with high respect, your obedient servant,

GEO. B. HODGE,

Colonel and Assistant Inspector-General.

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*See Polk to Hodge, April 28, 1864, Vol. XXXII Part III, p. 836.

#See Vol. XXXII, Part I, bottom of p. 609.

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